Last Updated on January 1, 2021 by HodgePodgeDays
We live in a world that can at times seem dark and scary. When you are raising children in this world, you want to remind them that imagination, creativity and dreams will help them to see the good in the world and achieve more in life.
Kids that have better imagination are known to:
- Be happier
- Be more social
- Be more empathetic
- Think more carefully
- Be more creative
But knowing how to encourage and teach your kids to imagine more may seem like a scary task. How do you tell someone to use their imagination with stifling them?
Creative Story Time
Rather than just reading a story to your child, take regular breaks throughout the story and ask your child questions about what they think will happen next. Questions such as “What if the princess is late for class?” or “What would you do next?” will add more fun to story time, and it will give kids a chance to use their imagination.
Introduce Imaginative Toys
Giving your children the right toys can help them be more imaginative. Often, children become used to seeing the same kind of toys all the time. These common toys often look exactly like their favourite characters. While cute, it’s not exactly inspiring.
More invent toys such as the figures from The World of Miss Mindy Disney collection can give your kids a recognisable character that is more inventive and interesting for their minds. These toys are playful takes on popular characters, which will help your child’s brain learn how to imagine the familiar in unfamiliar situations.
Imagination Art
One fantastic way to exercise imagination is art! All you need is some blank paper and something for your child to draw or paint with.
Not all kids will be able to sit down and start drawing immediately, so you may want to give them some prompts, such as “why don’t you draw what you want to do tomorrow?”
Giving your child blank paper to draw and colour crayons or pens rather than a colouring book is a good idea because it allows them to invent what they want to draw from scratch.
Pretend With Your Children
As an adult, it can be tiring to always feel like you are part of a child’s world, but taking the time to play pretend with your kids can help them to feel more comfortable and reassured about their imaginative play.
When you have time, play dress up with your kids or help them to put on an imaginary show for their stuffed animals. Follow their lead, and encourage them to be as unique and imaginative as possible throughout the experience.
Give Them Some Free Time
Kids will never have the chance to use their imagination if you schedule every minute of their day. Give them free time to play however they want to each day. Finding ways to fill their time will help them learn to be creative and even help with their social skills in the future. So charming toys, gorgeous Disney figurines, colourful crayons and fascinating books aplenty!
This is a collaborative guest post.